right now I'm debating among ND (20K)/fordham (7.5K)/cardozo (almost full) and emory (23K). I'm from Midwest but don't have much tie in any big cities there, and my family tie is primarily in the west coast, so location is not a big factor and I only prefer to get a job in big cities. My family is sponsoring my education so I won't have any debt attending any of those schools, although I do prefer nice scholarships. I have both BS and BA degrees in hardcore science and humanity/performing arts, so I'm IP eligible (plus some family connection in the industry), although I don't think I could compete with those phd people (I have some nice summer research and conference experience though). Speak Chinese/Italian/Greek with decent proficiency.

Right now I'm leaning towards Notre Dame mostly because I have strong feelings for it (nothing to do with its ranking) but ND/Fordham/Emory are essentially peer schools feeding different markets, and Fordham is considerably more expensive than the other two. The only thing I worry about ND is the lack of home market. I love New York and really wish to work there, and cardozo threw me big money, but I realize how hard it would be to find a job with a cardozo degree...

So before I put ND's deposit in the mailbox, I just want to make sure that it won't be a bad decision, thanks guys

Last edited by magicbunny on Wed Mar 21, 2012 10:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Where in the Midwest are you from? Having no ties to a major city isn't necessarily a deal breaker (I can attest to this), and sometimes just being a native of the region can be a good enough tie (within reason of course). I think retake/reapply is TCR, but ND is the best option you have listed.

romothesavior wrote:Where in the Midwest are you from? Having no ties to a major city isn't necessarily a deal breaker (I can attest to this), and sometimes just being a native of the region can be a good enough tie (within reason of course). I think retake/reapply is TCR, but ND is the best option you have listed.

I only have a GPA of 3.57 so HYSCCN probably will never take me (I think getting a ridiculously high LSAT and doing well in law school require the same level of luck), and paying sticker at a lower T14 still sucks in some ways.

I am actually not a midwest native but have lived in southern wisconsin/northern illinois for several years. My family are all on the west coast.

romothesavior wrote:Where in the Midwest are you from? Having no ties to a major city isn't necessarily a deal breaker (I can attest to this), and sometimes just being a native of the region can be a good enough tie (within reason of course). I think retake/reapply is TCR, but ND is the best option you have listed.

I only have a GPA of 3.57 so HYSCCN probably will never take me (I think getting a ridiculously high LSAT and doing well in law school require the same level of luck), and paying sticker at a lower T14 still sucks in some ways.

I am actually not a midwest native but have lived in southern wisconsin/northern illinois for several years. My family are all on the west coast.

Thanks for your answer

Sounds like you'd be fine for ties to Chicago, so ND I guess?

That said, even supposing success on LSAT and law school are both matters of luck, one requires far more work than the other. Do you have to go this year?

I don't have to go this year, but I've taken the LSAT twice so I only have one chance left, so if I can't do well next time, I'll be screwed again and waste another year.

My undergrad school is also in the greater chicago area.

I'm not afraid to study super hard for law school (I'm taking classes like crazy in college and this semester I'm still taking almost 6 classes and sleep like 5 hours everyday it's really really horrible), but I know the outcome might not be proportional to the effort I put in. So there's always a risk...

magicbunny wrote:I don't have to go this year, but I've taken the LSAT twice so I only have one chance left, so if I can't do well next time, I'll be screwed again and waste another year.

My undergrad school is also in the greater chicago area.

I'm not afraid to study super hard for law school (I'm taking classes like crazy in college and this semester I'm still taking almost 6 classes and sleep like 5 hours everyday it's really really horrible), but I know the outcome might not be proportional to the effort I put in. So there's always a risk...

What if you put in the deposit for Notre Dame by the due date but still take the June LSAT (after studying intensely between now and then, of course). Then, if you have a significantly higher score in June, you can negotiate with NDLS for more money or hold out for the next cycle. If you have a similar or worse score than before, you'll still be going to NDLS with almost half tuition.

Fordham does well for itself. My answer is this is all about jobs. I will endlessly troll for Law School Transparency's Data Clearinghouse. It takes all of 3 minutes to look up all of your options. DO IT NAO!

lisjjen wrote:Fordham does well for itself. My answer is this is all about jobs. I will endlessly troll for Law School Transparency's Data Clearinghouse. It takes all of 3 minutes to look up all of your options. DO IT NAO!

LST has it's place, but it's pretty limited in its application to the current job market, beyond rough relative placement.

Don't want to sound like rejecting everyone's advice but... retaking in June is almost undoable because I have solo concerts scheduled in May and there's absolutely no way to cancel them unless I'm dying in the hospital.

Fordham sounds appealing to me and I visited the school and liked it a lot. Just wondering whether it worths that price or not.

magicbunny wrote:Don't want to sound like rejecting everyone's advice but... retaking in June is almost undoable because I have solo concerts scheduled in May and there's absolutely no way to cancel them unless I'm dying in the hospital.

Fordham sounds appealing to me and I visited the school and liked it a lot. Just wondering whether it worths that price or not.

If your family is paying for it, I don't really see why it matters whether or not it will be "worth the price." Fordham is your best shot at NYC biglaw, so if you can do it with no debt, go for it. If you want improved job prospects, retake.

magicbunny wrote:Don't want to sound like rejecting everyone's advice but... retaking in June is almost undoable because I have solo concerts scheduled in May and there's absolutely no way to cancel them unless I'm dying in the hospital.

Fordham sounds appealing to me and I visited the school and liked it a lot. Just wondering whether it worths that price or not.

If your family is paying for it, I don't really see why it matters whether or not it will be "worth the price." Fordham is your best shot at NYC biglaw, so if you can do it with no debt, go for it. If you want improved job prospects, retake.

True, your best shot for NYC biglaw is Fordham. Having your family assist you contributes to the pro-Fordham sentiment also. If not then try again for the T14 next year after you retake. I saw an earlier post about paying sticker at the lower T14, tbh, if you want biglaw with a decent sense of security then anywhere in the T14 will do it. Besides you're only getting $7,500 at Fordham. Sticker at GULC, Cornell would be well worth it.

So ND half price is still bad even for IP people (my background is CS/chem)? There are some big pharmaceutical companies in Indiana and other midwest states so I thought there would be a considerably big market.

If your promary goal is NY, go to Fordham.If you don't really care, go to Notre Dame. You like the school and if you dOnt mind spending the rest of your life there, then by all means, go there.

Unless your goal is PI (or some other low paying job), Cardozo without a free ride vs Fordham at less than sticker is always a no-brainer. Especially considering that Fordham has no stips, while 'Bozo usually does

dingbat wrote:If your promary goal is NY, go to Fordham.If you don't really care, go to Notre Dame. You like the school and if you dOnt mind spending the rest of your life there, then by all means, go there.

Unless your goal is PI (or some other low paying job), Cardozo without a free ride vs Fordham at less than sticker is always a no-brainer. Especially considering that Fordham has no stips, while 'Bozo usually does

just FYI Dozo gives me virtually full ride with a stip of top 80%, which is not too bad (I'll probably drop out if I'm bottom 20% anyway)

I don't have much desire for biglaw, although having a high paying job is always nice, so I'm not against biglaw either. I was in a mock trial team in college and I totally loved it, so I would love to do litigation. It's weird that I don't hear many people talk about litigation on this forum. Should boutique/midlaw be my goal if I want to do litigation? I'm an artist and business law simply sounds super boring to me so I will only go to big law to do IP.

I guess my plan in law school is, if I do really well, I'll transfer to T14 and go to academia/clerkship at some point, and if I don't do that well, I'll be content with staying at my current school and try to find a decent legal job, or PI, or go to get a phd degree. I don't want to stay in biglaw for my life, and don't care too much about making money since I won't have debt of any kind.

dingbat wrote:If your promary goal is NY, go to Fordham.If you don't really care, go to Notre Dame. You like the school and if you dOnt mind spending the rest of your life there, then by all means, go there.

Unless your goal is PI (or some other low paying job), Cardozo without a free ride vs Fordham at less than sticker is always a no-brainer. Especially considering that Fordham has no stips, while 'Bozo usually does

just FYI Dozo gives me virtually full ride with a stip of top 80%, which is not too bad (I'll probably drop out if I'm bottom 20% anyway)

I don't have much desire for biglaw, although having a high paying job is always nice, so I'm not against biglaw either. I was in a mock trial team in college and I totally loved it, so I would love to do litigation. It's weird that I don't hear many people talk about litigation on this forum. Should boutique/midlaw be my goal if I want to do litigation? I'm an artist and business law simply sounds super boring to me so I will only go to big law to do IP.

I guess my plan in law school is, if I do really well, I'll transfer to T14 and go to academia/clerkship at some point, and if I don't do that well, I'll be content with staying at my current school and try to find a decent legal job, or PI, or go to get a phd degree. I don't want to stay in biglaw for my life, and don't care too much about making money since I won't have debt of any kind.

That's the best argument for going to 'Dozo I've ever seen (except for the bit about transferring to a T14). Go forth and prosper

dingbat wrote:If your promary goal is NY, go to Fordham.If you don't really care, go to Notre Dame. You like the school and if you dOnt mind spending the rest of your life there, then by all means, go there.

Unless your goal is PI (or some other low paying job), Cardozo without a free ride vs Fordham at less than sticker is always a no-brainer. Especially considering that Fordham has no stips, while 'Bozo usually does

just FYI Dozo gives me virtually full ride with a stip of top 80%, which is not too bad (I'll probably drop out if I'm bottom 20% anyway)

I don't have much desire for biglaw, although having a high paying job is always nice, so I'm not against biglaw either. I was in a mock trial team in college and I totally loved it, so I would love to do litigation. It's weird that I don't hear many people talk about litigation on this forum. Should boutique/midlaw be my goal if I want to do litigation? I'm an artist and business law simply sounds super boring to me so I will only go to big law to do IP.

I guess my plan in law school is, if I do really well, I'll transfer to T14 and go to academia/clerkship at some point, and if I don't do that well, I'll be content with staying at my current school and try to find a decent legal job, or PI, or go to get a phd degree. I don't want to stay in biglaw for my life, and don't care too much about making money since I won't have debt of any kind.

That's the best argument for going to 'Dozo I've ever seen (except for the bit about transferring to a T14). Go forth and prosper

lol the T14 transfer part is mostly for Notre Dame.... and I'll close my argument by saying that getting a legal job, even at this time, is still easier than becoming a concert musician or a classicist, which are the only two choices left for me (I do well in science, but I would rather kill myself if I'm stuck in a lab for life)